On Cleaning Nests

"My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you?"

Erma Bombeck

Even by Bombeck's rules on cleaning one's nest...it's time. So, to self I say, "Step away from the computer, put down that book and grab your vacuum." The Gray Googler is off to fight grime! See you later.


Photo note: Shot with my new lens: AF-S Micro Nikkor 105mm on my Nikon D40x with available light. The bird's nest is one I retrieved from a holly bush last winter after it was abandoned. No, silly, the nest was abandoned, not the holly bush.

Nesting With Freud

An Abandoned Nest, Taken from a Holly Bush

Faux Eggs Under a Glass Cloche

Faux Nest With Porcelain Chicken Eggs

Why are birds' nests and eggs so appealing? The owner of The Antiquarium, a purveyor of antique prints here in Houston, was telling me that prints of eggs and nests are quite popular and that he sells as many of these prints to men as he does to women. Though he loves these representations of nature himself, he could not fathom the reason for the attraction.

Perhaps eggs and nests are metaphors for a hopeful future or remind us of an idealized home, a place where our needs and even whims are fulfilled.

We all know why we love mushrooms and any representation of same. But we will not speak of that Freudian obsession here. Sometimes a mushroom is not just a mushroom.